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Physical Therapy: CINAHL

A guide for finding literature to support evidence-based practice in physical therapy.

What is CINAHL?

CINAHL stands for Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. In addition to nursing, this database covers allied health topics such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, health promotion, education, home health, and much more. It indexes more than 3.8 million citations for mostly articles, but also books, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, and more and covers 1930s-present. You can access CINAHL from this guide or the Lister Hill Library website (click the CINAHL tab in the middle). (After graduation, you can also access CINAHL with your APTA membership through ArticleSearch.)

CINAHL Guide

Click the image below to access Lister Hill Library's guide (including tutorials) on CINAHL. A new window or tab will open, so you will not lose your place in this Physical Therapy guide. When you are done viewing the CINAHL guide and tutorials, close the window or tab to return to this guide.

CINAHL Guide screenshot

Selecting CINAHL Heading for Your Search

If after reviewing the CINAHL guide above you want a more in-depth introduction to searching with CINAHL Headings, this 10-minute tutorial further demonstrates how to select the best CINAHL Headings (subject terms) for your search and how to search CINAHL using those subject terms. (Note: This tutorial shows images from a slightly older version of the CINAHL interface, but the same features are available in the current version.)

Note: Click the to Full Screen button on the bottom right  to expand the tutorial to full screen.

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